


When The Rings Bell

by Lwoorl



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alien Planet, Alternate Universe, Arranged Marriage, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Science Fiction, Slow Burn, Timkonweek2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-07-27 03:36:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20039263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lwoorl/pseuds/Lwoorl
Summary: To prevent another war between humans and kryptonians Tim Drake must marry the kryptonian prince Kon-El.





	1. To Delay The Nibiru Cataclysm A Human Sacrifice Is Needed

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this for the second day of the timkon week, arranged marriage, but then this turned so long I ended deciding to make it multichaptered, but I'm still posting the first chapter on the right day so it still counts.🤔🤷

Marriage is a busyness.

It is, at its core, a tool, that's why it was created in human society, that's why it still exists. A tool for economic and political gain. Even if with time it has come to be associated with notions such as love or if it's been accepted people should be allowed to choose, that original notion never totally wore off. Arranged marriages happen all the time between rich people, and when it comes to politics, even more.

Sure. They might not be presented as such to the public, and straight up  _ 'you have to marry this person for this business/ this country/ this family'  _ are less common than  _ 'you would make such a nice couple/ your father would love it if you give him a chance/ no pressure but...' _ but the point is... It's still all the same thing with another layer of paint.

So… This is fine. 

"There's still time for you to change your mind." Bruce says, that worried frown on his face he's had ever since Tim offered himself for this… This whole thing. It's hard to watch, so he looks back at his closet, from where he's picking clothes to take with him. 

"Someone has to do it." He mutters and, at the back of his head, he can feel his father's frown deepening.

As previously said, humans still have arranged marriages, but usually they aren't as open about the fact that's what those unions are. ...Which is why the proposal for a Kryptonian prince to marry the kid of one of the Human Alliance's head representatives was quite a shock. 

Kryptonians, apparently, not only have a monarchical style of government, but also have kept the practice of marriage as openly a tool very much alive. And with the political tension between both factions left from the war, rejecting such peace offering  _ (Because that's what it is. A way to strengthen the relationships between humans and kryptonians) _ could very well trigger another conflict. A conflict they might not win this time around.

Of the representatives, Bruce's the only one with children who are not only single but also in the right age. And of those children, Tim is the most logical solution. 

Dick might accept if pressured into it, but he has too many things in earth to leave, not only that but he is also the kind of person who needs true love to be in a relationship, offering himself to marry someone he doesn't even know would utterly  _ destroy _ him. 

Jason would  _ never  _ go along with something like that, just asking him could very well push him to run away from earth. This time, perhaps for good. 

Cass would accept if asked, would feel like it's her responsibility, like she has to do everything she can, but no one knows where in the galaxy she is right now and won't be back for at least two months so that automatically disqualifies her. 

If Damian was older, he might accept if Bruce asked him to do it, but he is too young, and his father would never force one of his kids to something like that anyway.

So Tim is the best candidate.  _ Really, _ the only logical choice was to offer himself before Bruce rejected the deal and both planets ended in another boothirsty war. 

It will be fine. Probably. 

_ ...He's heard Krypton is pretty?  _

"You don't have to do this." Bruce repeats for what's got to be a thousand times now.

"I do. Someone has to." He answers, as he always does. The sound of the door closing behind him being the only indication that Bruce left. 

"Someone has to." Tim repeats, putting his hands together around one of his belts. If he holds tight enough, they might stop shivering. "Everything's going to be alright." 

  
  


The departure is… Emotional. 

Steph acts like it's no big deal, talking about how they still can video chat and how she has a friend who lives in Australia  _ so it's really the exact same thing,  _ all happy and carefree and exuding denial. She hugs him once, then starts running to the bathroom, the tears halfway through her eyes. 

Cassie promises to visit as soon as she can, then remembers amazons aren't allowed in kryptonian soil yet and threatens him into swearing to come visit. "They probably won't let you leave for a while." She says "But as soon as everything is settled down, you better come back, even if it's just to stay a month, ok?" 

Probably seeing the reluctance in Tim's face, Bruce does him a favor and explains for him about the travel ban, how royalty can't leave the main planet... How as soon as he marries he's royalty too, and her expression falls. She hugs him very, very tightly, so much it hurts, and doesn't let go of his hand as he exchanges farewells with everyone else.

Bart is easier. He just cries while they hug and wishes him good luck. Tells him to eat, to take care of himself. "If he's bad to you I swear I'm kicking his butt!" He exclaims, and it actually gets a laugh out of him.

Tam is probably the most unexpected. "Thank you." Is all she says. Her expression unreadable. And Tim is abruptly reminded her parents were refugees from the war that had to flee their colony when the kryptonian forces attacked.

He nods and gives her a quick hug. "You're welcome." He whispers and Tam smiles at him.

The goodbyes from his brothers fall much closer to what he expected. Dick kissing his forehead and wishing him the best. Jason punching him on the shoulder and _ oh so casually _ offering to help him escape if he gets bored of Krypton. Even Damian shakes his hand and tells him "Don't ruin this, Drake." Without any real bite into it.

Alfred didn't come, he said goodbye yesterday, in private, and he's grateful for that, because Tim ended crying like a baby. No one needs to see him like that. So he thinks that's everyone.

"Tim…" Bruce starts to say as he's about to board. They stare at each other for a moment, too many emotions flashing through Bruce's face for Tim to read. It looks like he's about to say something else-

_ "Last call for all passengers on pier nine to board."  _

"Goodbye, Bruce." Tim says, picking up his suitcase and rushing towards the entrance of the ship, not giving Bruce time to finish.

He sits on his respective seat, his suitcase on the compartment under it, and waits for the takeoff while eyeing a map of the ship they gave him when entering. 

Leaving the atmosphere isn't that much different from a plane taking fly, and he's only a bit disappointed he doesn't get pressed against his seat while the cabin shakes like in the really old science fiction movies he likes to watch. Once they leave earth's gravity he feels himself floating, only attached to the seat by his seatbelt, the map leaving his hand and hovering over his head.  _ That  _ is actually fun, but then they quickly turn ON artificial gravity and his feet are back on the ground. 

_ "You may walk through the ship. Please follow the map you have been provided. If you need help, don't doubt to ask the closest member of the personnel."  _ The announcement voice says, followed by the same in Chinese, German, and then Kryptonian. He tries to pay attention to the last one, and finds it weirdly nerve wracking how he can't understand a single word of it.

Tim retrieves his luggage and follows the map to his room, where he also finds the rest of his things. Then falls headfirst on his bed and promptly falls asleep.

The trip to Krypton takes two months. Two long,  _ boring _ months in which he can't even use his computer because they're in hyperspace and for some weird reason most electronics won't work here. Had he known that, he would have packed books.

He decides he might as well use the time to do something useful, and spends most of the trip dragging random kryptonians into conversations, dictionary in hand, broken words out of his mouth. A week in he meets a nice woman called Kara that way. She speaks both languages fluently and is loosely related to the royal family: Close enough she's important and will probably meet again, but not so much that the travel ban applies to her too. 

She's glad to meet her  _ 'little cousin's future husband'  _ and even more to help him learn the language and even teach him some of her planet's customs. Sadly, she has to get off in the stop before Krypton, but even so, the time spent with her helps Tim a lot. 

When the ship finally arrives to Tim's final destination (And isn't that a depressing thought), he's happy to discover he can mostly understand the Kryptonian part of the announcement.  _ Kind of. _ Well enough.

He gets off the ship and enters an open room filled with aliens of all kind of species, from humans to kryptonians to atlanteans. He looks around and doesn't know what to do, all he sees is the people, the white ceiling and the white floor, no signs telling him what to do or clues of where he should go to retrieve his luggage. He holds his suitcase and waits, standing on place, in the middle of people walking from one side to another. Surely they must have sent someone to retrieve him, right? 

"Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne?" He hears someone say and quickly turns towards the sound.

There's a kryptonian, an old woman with short blonde hair talking to a human. The human guy shakes his head and the kryptonian moves to the closest earthling, "Are you Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne?" She asks again.

"I'm Timothy, I'm Tim Drake." He says as he approaches, and the woman quickly leaves who she was talking to in order to go greet him.

"Greetings, Tim Drake." She says in perfect English, her accent sounds British, and Tim thinks she must've studied English with teachers from England. "My name is Ina Fal-Sal and I'm here to bring you to palace. Please, Tim Drake, follow me."

Ina walks quickly, and Tim has to jog not to lose her. She guides him out of the station and Tim has to stop just to stare at the city. 

Tall, shiny towers populate the landscape. They look  _ nothing _ like the skyscrapers back on Earth, instead of the usual squared shape back home these tend to be more rounded, with holes, protuberances and secondary towers sprouting from them, with curved tunnels and bridges connecting most. It would give them almost an organic look, if it wasn't because they are clearly made of metal, either silver or gold with some peaks of other colors here and there.

Some of the constructions have what he  _ assumes  _ is vegetation on top, like he's seen a couple of buildings do back on Earth, but that's more the exception, not the norm. In fact looking around there isn't a plant on sight, not even grass. Just more metallic tiles for floor. 

"Tim Drake? Over here." Ina calls him, gesturing to what looks like a big golden sphere. 

"Sorry, I'm coming." He apologizes, following her lead. Once he's standing next to the sphere, it opens to reveal four seats inside. Ina gestures for him to sit. 

Once in the interior of what he's just going to call a car, he can see through the walls of the sphere-  _ the car. _ It's like a polarized window, he supposes, just covering the whole machine. Ina puts her hand on top of what's very obviously a scanner and the car raises and  _ flies.  _

It's different than a plane and also different than a ship. He can actually _ see  _ everything around as the car moves, passing through building (So that's why so many had holes on them!) And effortlessly evading other constructions. It reminds him of a Disney attraction… It's kinda cool.

Ina touches something on the same panel where she put her hand before. Quickly, the walls of the car turn black and a light goes on on top of them, now that they don't have the sun to illuminate. 

"I'm sorry, but I'm quite bad with heights. I hope it doesn't bother you, Tim Drake." 

"It's ok." He shrugs. "You can call me Tim."

"Of course, Tim." 

They stay in silence for a moment. Then Ina says. "Tim. Are you nervous?" 

"...A bit." He has to admit.

"Everything will be ok, Tim." She smiles. "Our prince is known to be very kind, he will make you happy. I know you're having a hard time getting used to the planet, Tim, but you will get used to Krypton before you even realize it."

"Thanks." He mutters. And after a beat. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Tim." 

"So… What's going to happen now?" 

Ina seems to think her answer over for a moment, then replies. "For now, Tim, I'm going to take you to your room at the palace. Tomorrow, you will meet your fiance and present to Krypton, as well as share dinner with the Royal family. Tim, you will live in the palace until the wedding, which shall be in four ro- Five earth months. In the meantime your only obligations are to do a public appearance every… Two times per week, and, if so desired, get to know your future husband. I'm not sure what will be asked of you after the marriage is made official, and for that I apologise, Tim."

"I… It's ok, don't worry." He says, trying to process all that information. "When you say public appearances…"

"Oh, don't worry Tim. It will be easy. All you need to do is stand at a balcony and wave at the crowd, no one expects you to know how to speak kryptonian yet."

"Oh… I see."

"...Tim, If you allow me to be impertinent for a moment."

"Go ahead?" 

"Well…" she coughs into her hand. "Even though our empires are currently at peace, you must know there's still a very strong anti kryptonian sentiment on Earth, and I'm afraid it's similar to the humans here." 

"I guess that was to be expected." 

"See, Tim, during the war there was a lot of effort put into propaganda. Of course, I was stuck on Earth during the war so I didn't see it by myself." She laughs at that. "But, while Earth sees kryptonians as a sort of… Godzillas? Big, strong and evil masterminds, something  _ scary. _ I'm afraid our propaganda about humans was more…" 

"How… What's the stereotype you have for humans here, exactly?" 

"Well, Tim... Let's just say some people will talk to you very,  _ very  _ slowly. And might not expect you to know what two plus two is. Of course, not everyone! But a lot of people." 

"Oh. Great." He all but deadpans. So everyone think he's an idiot. Just.  _ Wonderful. _

"On the bright side!" Ina cheerfully adds. "There are no expectations whatsoever, so you shall feel less nervous now!" 

_ "Wonderful."  _

"Leaving on that depressing note. Tim, we've reached palace. Please follow me as I take you to your room."

Tim follows Ina through the palace, not really having time to properly appreciate the architecture, the colorful furniture, the geometric designs painted on the walls, and only stops when Ina starts crossing a long, thin bridge on the fourth floor without a railing. 

"Tim, something wrong?" She stops to ask. He shakes his head and follows her through the death trap, not looking down. 

Halfway through the bridge, he decides to push his arm out of it for some reason, and has to release a relieved sigh when his hand touches an invisible wall.  _ Force fields, _ or perhaps a technology like the one used in the car. That also explains why so many buildings looked so terrifyingly open, so Krypton didn't completely sacrifice basic safety for aesthetics, good to know. 

"Tim, this is where you will be staying for the following months." She gestures towards a door, and touching the panel next to it, it opens to reveal his room. "All your things should already be there, if something is missing please make me know." 

"Thank you." He says, stepping inside.

"Tim, tomorrow a servant should wake you up for breakfast and guide you to meet prince Kon-El. For now, you can just rest."

With that the door closes, and Tim's left to explore his new room. 

It's fairly big, twice as big as his room at the manor, which is saying something. The floor is covered with a dark green carpet, with more geometrical designs drawn over it on gold and white. The walls are a soft peach, and curve as they move up until joining in a dome at the top, from where more oddly colored plants rest in hanging pots. At one end of the room, a glass door leads to a balcony.

There are couches around a coffee table, all in the kryptonian style (rounded, bright colors and slightly organic-like is the kryptonian style) and one huge crystal coming out of the ground that he isn't going to touch. At the center of the room, there's a circular black platform that looks metallic, however, when he touches it his hand sinks into the soft surface. Maybe the bed? He thinks it's the bed. 

There's also a very human-like desk, only different on the fact the chair is stuck to the ground and the drawers are transparent, because it seems like kryptonians just  _ love _ transparent shit. 

Finally, at one corner of the room lies his equipage. Not a single bag missing.

He takes out his laptop and turns it on, only to discover it reads as charging, even though it's not connected to anything. Taking out his cellphone it's also the same. So one thing less to worry about, yahoo.

He takes the computer and goes sit cross-legged on the bed. The wifi is an open red and he connects to the local network easily enough. Tim then goes to establish connection with the intergalactic highway, and when it asks for a scan of his fingertips he's expecting it to get rejected, no way he's in their database already, but surprisingly enough it actually grants him access. 

It takes one hour and twenty-five minutes to fully connect, which he uses to unpack his things.

He brought mostly stuff with sentimental value. A box filled with old pictures he took long ago, his mug that looks like a camera lens, small gifts from his friends (mostly gag gifts because they're all a bunch of morons), his ticket for Cass' recital next month (he won't be able to attend now) his camera, an hairpin that belonged to his mother, a tie from his dad (but not Bruce), some posters of his favorite shows and movies, a small trophy he won at a school fair, a notebook he used as a journal for about two weeks before getting tired of it and stopping. He leaves most of the stuff at the desk and moves to put his clothes in the closet, it's indebted in one of the walls, and the clothes inside float inside of hang from anything.

Same as with everything, he only brought his favorite clothes, which is why his wardrobe at the ship and until that point consisted mostly of nerdy shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, and Things That Don't Belong To Him: A stolen jacket from Jason, a sweater he  _ 'borrowed'  _ from Dick, and Damian's favorite sneakers that don't even fit Tim. Etc. 

During his meanderings he ends discovering that patch of white on the wall next to the closet actually opens as a door when he touches it, which leads him to a small bathroom, with a huge bathtub at the center that looks more like an alien jacuzzi than anything else. 

Seeing that his laptop is still loading he ends taking a bath. The tub is easy enough to operate, the water is hot, and there are towels under the sink. He dries himself, goes to the closet, and dresses with a white robe inside he assumes is a pijama, not quite surprised at discovering it fits him perfectly. 

He sits and waits for other five minutes as his messages and emails end loading, and then is assaulted by a hundred notifications. Everyone asking how is he? And is he ok? And did he arrive already? And  _ is your husband hot?  _ (Jesus Christ Steph) 

Tim answers everyone with variations of "The planet is pretty." and "My room is very cool!", "Everyone's been nice so far.", "No, I haven't meet Kon yet.", "Yes, they have people who speak English." And so on and so on. He's about to turn it off when he hears a  _ ping-pong _ signaling Steph sent him a message. He looks at his watch, it's 4am back home.

**send a picture 👁️💋👁️**

He rolls his eyes and goes to the balcony. It's already dark outside, but the lights from the building betray the silhouette of the city. He takes a picture with his phone.

**There you go**

**Tim sent aliennight.png**

**NICE! **

**looks weird **

**It's another planet, you expected it to look normal?**

**is it true they have flying cars **

**Yes**

**holy shit **

**for real**

**Yup**

**And they're transparent, everything is transparent actually, like, *everything***

**( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

**Oh shut up **

**so when are you meeting your husband**

**Tomorrow, I'm supposed to make my debut as a celebrity and then done with the king, I'm not sure if I'm meeting Kon-El before or after**

**hm**

**from a scale of my house to your house how fancy is everything**

**youre in a palace and all right**

**I'll say 1.5 Wayne manors**

**Maybe 1.8 **

**wow**

**They seem to love using gold and silver colors so that adds it some points**

**Also everything looks really high teach so I'm giving some points for that **

**hows the food like 🍽️**

They end chatting for at least four hours. With the distance they have to wait between five and twenty minutes for their texts to get to the other, so it's slow and bothersome, but still, it's the first time in months he can talk to someone he knows. 

At the end he falls asleep on top of his laptop, face on the keyboard, and that's how Tim spends his first day in his new home. 


	2. If You Die In The Vatican You Die In Real Life

Tim wakes up the next morning by the sound of someone dragging something into his room. 

"Breakfast." Says an unknown voice, in a thick accent. He sits up to see a young boy, around his age, maybe younger, with long brown hair tied in a braid, carrying what looks like a food car, not too different from the ones used by Alfred, if a bit more… More kryptonian, obviously. 

Actually from now on unless he specifically says something  _ isn't  _ kryptonian-like, then everything is kryptonian-like. 

"Hello?" Tim greets, rubbing a hand against his eyes, and only then does the guy look at him, a frown on his face.

"I'm here for bringing you the breakfast." He simply says, as he moves towards the closet and starts looking for something inside. Tim sits at the edge of the bed and studies the food. It looks like a plate of red porridge, with pieces of fruit on top, and beside it some fried sticks of something that looks like bread. Then, there's also what looks like an alien fried octopus, which he decides he isn't ready to try just yet. 

He takes a spoon and tentatively tries the red stuff, it's a little sweet and acid, not bad. When he tries the sticks they're really salty, so much he immediately has to drink water just to swallow it, but once he gets used to the taste he finds he actually really likes it. 

"Put this on." The guy from before instructs, placing some clothes beside him on the bed. Tim finishes his food and does as he's told, retreating to the bathroom to put on the clothes: Something between a green tunic and a dress that comes just under his knees, with golden buttons at the middle and embroidery at the tip of the skirt and the sleeves, under it a pair of black pants and black boots, a golden belt tying it at the middle, and the a goddamn golden  _ cape,  _ put around his shoulders and fixed by two brooches. 

"Very well." The boy nods, as Tim comes back. He hands him a golden necklace and some earrings. "Put this on." 

"What? How?" He asks, looking at the stuff. He can't wear earrings, he doesn't have his ears pierced. The boy rolls his eyes.

_ "Had to give me the stupid human."  _ He swears he hears him mutter in kryptonian before switching back to English. "Put this on. Here." He says again, as he points towards his own neck and ears. Tim doesn't even waste time into glaring, just constructs a sentence with the few words in kryptonian he knows he can pronounce fairly enough and then says it.

_ "I'm still learning the language, but I understood that insult. Thank you."  _

The guy stops at that, looking at him with eyes big as plates as his face starts turning red. Tim is the one who rolls his eyes this time.

"I meant I can't put on earrings, my ears aren't-" he starts to say, looking at the mirror, but when he turns around the boy is gone. "-Pierced…" 

For a moment, he isn't sure what to do, now that the guy giving him instructions is gone. He considers just leaving the room, eyeing the open door, but it's nothing more than a passing thought he immediately dismisses. He isn't nearly confident enough on the planet or  _ himself  _ to just wander around the palace alone. It he fucks up, he isn't the only one getting fucked over, but two entire  _ species.  _

So he sits, plays a game in his phone and looks at the octopus, weighting the pros and contras of trying biting one tentacle. When someone else appears at the door.

This time it's a girl, around the same age as the previous boy, with the same blue eyes, same freckled face and same brown hair, just this time falling free on her shoulders.

"Hello." She says, the word way too emphasized on the vowels, like she's overcompensating the pronunciation. 

"Hi." He waves, putting down his cellphone.

"My name is Tana Kar-Ze" She approaches. "I'm here to replacing my brother, Ser-Ze?" 

"I take that's the boy who just left." 

"Yes." She nods, suddenly looking tired. "He also asked me to tell you not to get him fired. Sorry about that, he's a good boy, but gets insufferable when he thinking he has the upper hand over someone." 

"Oh. No, it's ok." He answers, filling at the back of his head the fact he apparently can  _ get people fired.  _ He didn't really think he had any power over anyone here. Huh.

"Now, please, follow me so we finish you getting ready."

Today is the day he will meet Kon-El, apparently, and then appear in front of the entire planet, so Tim spends the following morning getting dragged from one corner of the palace to another, as people mess with his hair, nails, and shove a paste that turns his teeth white into his mouth. It's tiresome, but he's used to waste time getting ready for important galas and other events since he's a kid, so it's not too hard to stay still as servants do all the hard work.

Hours later, as they finish dusting dark powder on his eyelids, Tana comes holding a machine between her hands, roughly gun shaped. At that point, he's already so deep into what he would call a tailor-induced-trance, letting people dress him up like a doll all morning, that he doesn't even react when she brings it to his ear. It's only when he feels it sting and hears a  _ loud  _ clicking sound that Tim brings a hand to a side of his head, holding his ear. It hurts to the touch.

"Did you just pierce my ear?!" 

By the time they're done, the sun's already started to go down. Tim stands with his dress, his manicure and his  _ earrings  _ at the west tower, while Tana gives her last instructions. 

"After you finish with your introduction you two will walk to the balcony and saludarte everyone. You will use these same clothes later at dinner so  _ for the love of Rao _ don't ruin them." 

"Alright."

"Ok. You can go ahead in four… three… two..." Finishing her countdown, Tana opens the door in front of him, and he's greets with a small, empty hall. Tim takes a step inside and at the other side another door opens, letting in the man that will be his husband. 

Kon-El is… He looks nice. In any other circumstances Tim might even say he's hot. With a skin thigh white suit under a red tunic open at the sides, his neck and ears adorned with jewelry, all silver except for the medallion hanging over his chest with the emblem of his house. He looks nice. But Tim's too busy trying not to fuck up to really pay attention to that.

_ "My name is Timothy Drake. Son of Bruce Wayne."  _ The practiced alien words leave his mouth easily.  _ "Thank you for having me, Kon-El."  _

"Mah" Kon-E coughs. "My name is Kon-El. Thanks for having me, Timothy." 

Tim raises an eyebrow, his pronunciation is atrocious, like he read the words somewhere and practiced based on that but never asked how they're supposed to be said... But even so, it's English. Kom-El practiced how to say his part in English, that's way more than what he was expecting. 

Kon puts his hand forward, palm up, and Tim puts his own on top. That's the equivalent of shaking hands, putting their hands together for a second or so. Kon smiles, but it seems forced.

Once that's over Kon moves towards the door to the balcony, Tim following close behind, and pushing the door open they get to a platform on top of more people than Tim's ever seen, and that's saying something. All cheering and screaming, looking like ants from so up. 

They stand together, about two feet apart. He's vaguely aware Kon's saying something to the crowd, but he doesn't really pay attention. Absently, he remembers to wave before they're getting back inside the building. 

"Oh my God." He sighs as soon as the doors close, resting his shoulder against the wall. He thought he would be used to being the center of attention by now, but he really isn't. 

"Hm?" Turning towards the sound, Kon looks at him like he thinks Tim talked to him. He probably only knew the words he said earlier. 

"Nevermind." Tim mutters as he shakes his head and starts walking away.

"Ah, Timothy!" Kon calls behind him, darting to catch his arm. Quickly, too quickly, too defensively, Tim takes a step back, pulling away from him, and both of them keep staring at each other for a moment.

He's about to apologize _ because that's your fucking fiance and your planet depends of you marrying him, get a grip, Tim!  _ But Kon speaks first. "Walk?" He says. Tim blinks.

_ "What?" _

"Uh." Kon scratches the back of his head, his cheeks blushing a little. "Walk." He repeats, pointing at Tim, then at himself, then at the door.

_ "Are you trying to ask if I want to go take a walk with you?" _

"...Yes?" He answers, in English again, even though Tim already showed him he understands Kryptonian. It makes him only a little bit mad. 

_ "My Kryptonian isn't perfect but you can stop trying to speak in English. It would be easier to both of us."  _

_ "I was just trying to be nice."  _ Kon mutters, as the rest of his face gets red. Tim swallows a sigh. So being nice right? Yeah. Be nice. He's your fiance Tim. Be nice.

_ "Sure. Let's walk."  _

_ "So how much can you speak?"  _ Kon asks, as they're walking through the gardens. Tim stops to look at him, then goes back to looking at the ground and continues walking, two feet apart behind Kon, being very careful not to step on any mud.

_ "How so?" _

_ "You said your Kryptonian isn't perfect. I want to say something and I need to make sure you understand it, tell me how much you can speak." _

Tim thinks about it. A part of him wants to look cool and say he's totally fluent at it, but the other parts aren't stupid. Whatever it is, it's probably important right?

_ "I know all the forms of courtesy. I know how to say questions, orders and requests, I have a very good vocabulary of substantives and verbs. I don't know pure adjectives, but I know how to turn other words into adjectives."  _ He decides to be honest.  _ "I can use all present and infinitive times in both formal and informal form. I can understand past in both forms but can only use it well in formal form, the informal is too hard to pronounce. Your language's future doesn't make sense, don't say anything using future or I don't understand. I still don't understand the difference between 'have(1)', 'have(2)' and 'have(3)', English only has one… I know all the swear words."  _

Kon snorts at the last part.  _ "All the swear words?"  _ He teases, or at least he hopes he's recognizing the tone for teasing and he didn't just look bad in front of his fiance. Looking up, Kon's smiling. Yeah, it's teasing. 

_ "All the swear words."  _ He repeats. Kon laughs. 

_ "So. Timothy."  _ He says after a beat. 

_ "You can call me Tim." _

_ "And you can call me Kon." _

"Ok."

_ "So… We're… Engaged."  _ Kon starts, talking just a bit more slowly than needed. Tim doesn't like the condescension, but also, it actually does help. So whatever.  _ "But that doesn't mean… You don't have to…"  _ Kon sighs.  _ "I always knew I would marry politically, but humans don't… Do that… Do they?" _

_ "They don't."  _ They do, but not normally. He isn't going to explain all that. 

_ "So you didn't… What I'm trying to say is, we don't have to like each other."  _ Well, that came out of left field. Tim raises his face so Kon can see he's got both eyebrows touching his hairline.  _ "This is political, right? So you don't need to, and I don't need to. We're going to- We will- Ugh. Stupid future. In the future we're married no matter what, it's already decided, so you don't, we don't have to… You know." _

_ "I… Ok. That makes sense." _

_ "And you don't need to make sure I like you either."  _ Kon mutters, it makes it harder to understand the sentence, but Tim still does.

He lets go of a sigh he didn't know he was holding. "That's good." Kon turns towards him, stumbling with the English again. Tim smiles, hoping that conveys the message, and they keep walking in silence for a while.

It's… Good. That's a good thing. He was ready to marry anyone to stop the possible war, but he  _ was  _ worried. What if the prince was a douchebag? What if he hated him? What if-... Yeah. He was ready to do… All of it, but, truth is no one likes to hug someone they don't know, much less-... And he's terrible with intimacy, so he was… Scared.

So he's trapped in an alien planet he can't leave, but he doesn't have to act all  _ married  _ to someone he doesn't know. And he lives in a palace. A lot of people think he's an idiot, but he's never cared that much about the opinion of others. He still can contact earth, even if the time between sending and receiving a short message is about half an hour. 

All in all, could be way worse. 

He walks faster, getting closer to Kon, so they're one feet apart.  _ "You seem cool though."  _ He says.  _ "I'm not kissing you but we can try to be friends. Yeah, husband?"  _

Kon blinks and for a moment Tim thinks he's going to say  _ no.  _ That he meant the 'we don't have to like each other' as a mutual thing, and is mildly disappointed about it. But then a smile breaks on his face and they're doing the kryptonian equivalent of a fist bump like he learned from Kara. 

_ "Yeah. Awesome. Let's be friends!"  _

  
  


_ "Sorry. It's just funny."  _ Kal-El-  _ king  _ Kal-El laughs and Tim sulks a bit more into his seat.  _ "I mean, how did you manage to…"  _ He trails off, gesturing towards them. Tim sends a pointed look at Kon before rolling up his sleeves, so the dirt doesn't get into his food, and without saying a word begins to eat.

_ "Uh. Well."  _ Kon finally says after a beat. _ "I wanted to bring Tim to the section of the garden where we keep the earth plants, you know, make him feel at home, right?"  _

_ "Mhm."  _ Kal-El makes an affirmative sound, encouraging his son to go on.

_ "And, well, I didn't know that was the time the sprinkler were meant to go off. So we ran away from it, but, we might have tripped as we ran. And. Uh. Rolled down a slope… Into a puddle of mudd."  _

_ "Oh no." _

_ "I, um, we might have panicked a little and tried cleaning it at the fountain, but it just made it worse, and by the time a servant found us we were running late and there wasn't time for changing our clothes, so."  _ He shrugs, opening his arms a bit, as if showing off his stained, soaked suit. Tim shoves more food into his mouth.

At the very least, the king doesn't seem to mind, if anything, he smiles and shakes his head as if this was a common occurrence. Is this a common occurrence? Tim doesn't know.

_ "In any case, you're lucky uncle Zor isn't here."  _ King Kal-El says _ "Can you imagine what he would say?"  _

At the other side of the table, Kon makes a strangled sound. When Tim looks up his face looks pale. He makes a mental note: Apparently, Uncle Zor is a total bitch. 

"How are you holding up so far?" The king says, and Tim has to do a double take… When he speaks English, king Kal-El has a Midwest accent. "Did you have any problem with your room, the food, anything? We want to make sure you feel at home." 

"No, everything's fine so far." He answers. Putting his interview smile to good use. "But thank you very much. I will make sure to inform you if anything is amiss." 

"Please do." He nods. "You must be tired, with such a long trip and then having to get ready to be seen in public… I know everything must feel chaotic right now, but I promise you will get used to living here."

"Thank you." 

_ "So. Tim."  _ Kal-El switches back to Kryptonian, most likely to reincorporate Kon into the conversation.  _ "Tell me about you. Do you have any hobbies, any sport you like?"  _

He can think of at least three ways he can answer to that: He could say he's interested in astronomy, mention how interesting the system's star is. Krypton is very religious, so there's no way talking about Rao won't turn into religion talk, he can go along with that, has learned enough about their belief systems to be able to hold that conversation without looking like a moron, it would make him look good, right? Showing off he knows this stuff. It worked for Catherine the Great. 

He also could say he likes hand to hand combat, that isn't a lie, everyone in his family has had to learn some basic self defence, he isn't the best out of his siblings (that would be Cass), but he can hold his own at a fight. Kryptonians value physical strength, so that would be good too, right? Show he isn't completely defenseless.

Or he could be honest and talk about stuff he really, truly likes to talk about.

_ "I like photography."  _ He goes with the third option. 

_ "That's pretty cool!"  _ Kon chirps in before Tim can add anything else. And Tim gets the impression he was ready to say the exact same thing no matter his answer.

He sends Kon a look Tim hopes conveys just how utterly  _ unimpressed  _ he is before going back to addressing the king.  _ "I'm not a professional by any means, but I did get published in some  _ magazines,  _ mostly from amateur contests."  _

_ "That's still very impressive. I myself have some experience with human cameras and most times it's not easy to get a good shot."  _

_ "Since when?"  _ Kon asks around his food. And Tim has to admit he's curious too. 

_ "I thought electronics were in the list of things not allowed to export from earth. Just being allowed to bring my personal equipment caused me a lot of troubles at the station."  _

_ "We've been trying to open our economy more in these last years, and I've no doubt this marriage will only increase commerce with earth."  _ He nods at Tim.  _ "The council is happy to allow exceptions when it comes to the royal family. So if it's only a small sample, as long as it isn't anything dangerous we can easily get things that normally would be vetoed for commercial use."  _ Kal-El explains with an easy smile and Kon goes back to eating with a shrug, totally convinced. 

It makes sense, Tim supposes, but he feels like there's more behind it. Of course, he isn't dumb enough to voice that suspicious to the king.  _ "That's good to know."  _ Is what he says.  _ "If I ever need to get anything from earth that can't be sent by Amazon, who should I inform?"  _

By the time he gets back to his room Tim's ready to fall face first into his bed and sleep for a month.

So when he turns on his laptop and is immediately assaulted by the number 99+ next to notifications he can't help but to groan. 

See, this is why he only connected his laptop to the highway, if he did the same for his phone he wouldn't even have time to breathe.

Some of the notifications are people asking how he's doing, but most of them seem to be from group chats, he skims through them, seeing what he's missed. It seems like Bart has taken to write updates on everything that's happened, and then his other friends joined the effort, sending pictures to the group of everything from an icecream Cassie ate to a pregnant woman sitting on a bus. He smiles at that, happy they're still trying to keep him close, even as he's light years away. 

He looks at his watch. It's 4am back home, so luckily no one's awake yet. He really wants to go to sleep, but if anyone replies to his texts he knows he's going to stay up until Rao rises.

On the family group he writes a short summary of his day, avoiding the parts that make him look bad. Then to the one with his friends he sends a more complete version, with details about how he was the one who stumbled and tried to catch himself by grabbing onto Kon but that just made him trip too. He's about to turn it off and let it be for the day when a notification goes on. From Bruce. 

**What do you think of Kon-El?**

He stops to stare at the message. Coming from Bruce, that's a loaded question, a 'are you ok' and 'do you want to come back' and 'are they forcing you to anything' and 'should I worry' and 'what the hell is going on' and a dozen more rolled into one. Tim thinks about what's going to put his father at ease, and then what would be true enough for him not to smell the lie into it. At the end he settles for a simple, but honest.

**He's a bit awkward and even dumb at times, but overall he's kind and seems like an ok dude**

**I had fun with him today**

**I think we can get along **

Tim doesn't wait for Bruce's response before closing the laptop. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> As always please remember to comment


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